Once upon a time there lived an old man and an old woman. One Saturday evening in the fall, after the holidays, the old man lay down and dozed off, and the old woman began to melt the fat. She stands by the stove, constantly looking into the pot. The house is quiet. The old woman was thinking about household chores. Poverty is extreme, there is no firewood stored for the winter, the old man’s jacket is completely worn out, and now she herself has fallen ill - everything is pricking at the bottom of her heart, although she did not mention this to the old man, so as not to upset him in vain. That's just all hope for fat. She will pour it into pots and go home to sell it.
The old woman stands lost in thought and suddenly sees: a thin child’s hand stretches out from under the stove and freezes, as if asking for something. And although the old woman was very frightened, she took out the crackling and put it in her small palm. The hand disappeared.
Following this, the old woman began to pour the fat from the pot into small pots and - lo and behold! - notices that the fat in the pot does not decrease. She has already filled all her pots, mugs, and plates with fat, but the fat is not decreasing. She filled all the buckets, poured water from the barrel and poured fat into it, and the pot on the stove was still full, an inexhaustible source, and that’s all.
Then the old man suddenly woke up. He sees that it is already past midnight, and the old woman is still not sleeping, so he got up to see what she was doing.
And the old woman keeps pouring out the melted fat. Then the old man got angry and shouted:
— How long can you exercise fat? It's almost morning, and you still haven't finished. Maybe you'll finally cum?
The old woman clasped her hands:
- It's gone! There was grace in the house, and you drove it away. You see, the shreitele gave us all this, and now after your words the grace has ended.
The old woman was right. The fat in the pot is gone. But what the old woman managed to collect was enough to get a lot of money for the fat and buy the old man a fur coat, prepare firewood and other supplies for the winter.
Long after this, the old man and the old woman remembered the kind schreitele who had so helpfully helped them.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru